Adam Strange may return to New 52

By Eric S. Brown | Sep 18, 2013

Adam Strange made his debut in March of 1958, in the pages of DC Comics “try out” series: Showcase.

The success of his three-issue run in that title led to a much longer arc of stories in the pages of Mystery in Space. I am not a big fan of pulp-era science fiction with all its jet-packs and ray-guns. However, DC Comics makes it work with Adam Strange.

Adam Strange is very much like those old style heroes of days passed. He was an archeologist who was whisked away from Earth, via a Zeta-beam, to the planet Rann. Rann is a world far in advance of our own civilization in terms of technology but also a world where its inhabitants have forgotten how fight and defend themselves.

That said, the peaceful world of Rann is not without its enemies both on its own surface and from the stars. Adam Strange's willingness and ability to fight quickly led to him becoming Rann's champion and protector. In his early stories he fought monsters and alien beasts that stalked Rann itself but as time went on, DC merged the world of Adam Strange deeper into the world of DC's superheroes.

He fought alongside the Justice League and teamed up with numerous heroes like Batman and Superman in the pages of Action Comics, the Brave and the Bold, and more. The Flash even went so far as to recommend Adam Strange for full membership in the Justice League after Adam saved the entire league from the alien warlord called Kanjar Ro.

Very often Adam Strange is referred to as the “thinking man's hero.” Yes, he has a blaster and jet-pack. Yes, he sometimes he is forced to take on his foes at a physical level. Always though, for Adam, brute force is a last resort or merely a small piece of a much greater plan.

Adam Strange doesn't simply pound his enemies into the ground like the Hulk, he outhinks them. Though only a normal human, he is a tactical genius and highly intelligent. This makes him extremely different from most modern heroes, but I think in a good way.

In the 1980s, Alan Moore rebooted the reason of why Adam was transported to Rann. In Moore's take, the men of Rann had all became sterile and Adam was the planet's last hope of continuing on their race. This was a much darker and adult take on the character.

Fortunately, this story was contained to a mini-series entitled “Man of Two Worlds” and the Adam Strange who continued to appear throughout the rest of the DCU was the same Adam fans had come to love though his appearances had grown fewer and more rare.

Prior to DC's company wide reboot with the New 52, Adam had experienced a major comeback in terms of popularity in the early 2000s with both a new mini-series of his own and the events of the Rann/Thangar War. At this time, Adam Strange is unaccounted for in the New 52 but it is rumored that he will be returning in the near future in the pages a New 52 Justice League title slated for a 2014 release.

Eric S. Brown, of Canton, is the author of numerous books, including the "Bigfoot War" series that is being made into a movie, and "Wars of the Worlds Plus, Blood, Guts and Zombies." He is a lifelong comic collector and fan.